Jessica.L Ware author page

Jessica L. Ware biography

Dr Jessica L. Ware is a Canadian-American evolutionary biologist and entomologist specialising in insect evolution. She is curator and chair of the Division of Invertebrate Zoology at the American Museum of Natural History.

Ware earned a BSc in invertebrate zoology from the University of British Columbia in 2001, followed by a PhD at Rutgers University in 2008 with research focused on the systematics of dragonflies, damselflies, termites, mantises and cockroaches.

From 2008 to 2010, she held a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellowship at the American Museum of Natural History, studying termite evolution. In 2010 she joined the Department of Biological Sciences at Rutgers University and received tenure in 2016.

Her research investigates evolutionary, physiological and behavioural adaptations in insects, and she has contributed to major studies resolving evolutionary relationships among insect groups.

Ware has served as president of the Entomological Society of America and the Worldwide Dragonfly Association. She received the 2019 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from the U.S. government.

Her children’s nonfiction title Bugs (A Day in the Life) introduces young readers to the lives of bees, ants, dragonflies and other insects.